More from Dad's journal--Mahabalipuram

Jan 2 (Fri):

We left for Pondicheri in the morning. The road was very nice: wide lanes and well paved. This, of course, makes a driver take more chances of overtaking other vehicles with very little margin for safety (even though our own driver was reasonably cautious). Traffic in India is amazing. In the cities, it is like the random motion of atomic particles except that actual collisions do not take place. There are usually 3 lanes of traffic each way even though there is only one lane. People merging from side streets do not even bother to slow down. But no one gets mad at the other drivers. We arrived at Pondi in the early afternoon. The hotel (selected from Tripadvisor.com) was dismal and the streets (where we were supposed to amble and look at shops) were narrow and crowded. So, Kalyani says to me: How about cutting our losses and going to Mahabalipuram right now? The hotel clerk was astonished that we would forfeit our money for the room: approximately $30 for just putting our luggage in and removing it!

The driver to M’puram thinks he is James Bond. He took all kinds of chances and passed cars and buses with very little room to spare. But he got us to M’puram in one piece. The hotel in M’puram is the Temple Bay Hotel. This used to be called the TTDC (Tamil Nadu Tourist Development Corporation) Hotel and we stayed there in 1980 and it was a great hotel then. Then it got taken over by the Central Government and it just deteriorated. When we stayed there in 1995, it was hot and just swarming with mosquitoes. I remember Hannah being totally covered by mosquito bites. Then, some years ago, a private group took over and it is now like paradise on earth: extensive grounds, gardens, swimming pool and luxurious rooms. The rooms are all built like condominium units with each room having a view of the Bay of Bengal. The cost matched the place: close to $300 per night. Kalyani and I felt that we deserved this pampering. In the evening, there was a Bharata Natyam performance by 10 to 12-year old kids (mostly girls but there was one boy in the troupe). We went to a restaurant on the beach, since Kalyani wanted prawns. I tried the Indian wine, which was quite good. The food was not that great, however.